


You Can Even Bring the Effant

by the_deep_magic



Series: Nina 'verse [3]
Category: Actor RPF, Star Trek RPF
Genre: Established Relationship, Future Fic, Kid Fic, M/M, Schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-17
Updated: 2010-07-17
Packaged: 2017-10-19 11:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/200150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_deep_magic/pseuds/the_deep_magic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zach’s cousin has run off and left her daughter behind.  Who’s going to take care of her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Can Even Bring the Effant

**Author's Note:**

> Chronological beginning of the Nina 'verse

Zach hung up the phone and scrubbed his eyes with the heel of his hands.  “I think I’m going to have to go to Pittsburgh this weekend.”

“What’s up?” Chris asked, plopping down next to him on the couch with a bowl of cereal.

“You remember my cousin Tory?”

“The one who had the baby a couple of years ago, right?”

“Yeah.  She’s gone.”

“Gone?  What do you mean, gone?”

“Apparently her latest boyfriend – the one my aunt is pretty sure is a meth dealer – didn’t want to deal with raising a kid.  So they ran off together and left her daughter with my aunt.  It’s been two weeks and no one knows where they are.”

“Shit,” Chris muttered in sympathy, setting his bowl down on the coffee table and squeezing Zach’s shoulder.

“No kidding,” Zach groaned.  “My aunt’s hysterical.  She’s got her own health problems – no way she’s going to be able to look after a toddler.  My mom’s taking care of Nina right now.”

“What are they going to do?”

“I don’t know.  They don’t know either.  My mom’s running some kind of event at the community center this weekend.  It’s been planned for months, but now she’s got to deal with Nina _and_ my aunt.  I said I’d come over there to help try and get things straightened out.”

Chris smiled a little, shifting so he could sit behind Zach and gently rub his shoulders.  “Well, you’re good at that.  I can come with you, if you want.”

“I can’t ask you to do that.  You’ve got lunch with a producer on Saturday, right?  Plus, I don’t want to drag you into my family’s crap.”

“Hey, they’re my family, too.   I can reschedule that lunch pretty easily, and it sounds like the Pennsylvania Quintos can use all the help they can get.”

Zach craned his head around to meet Chris’ eyes.  “You sure you don’t mind?”

“Not at all.”

“You might reconsider in a couple of days when you’ve got half-eaten Cheerios stuffed down your shirt and Nina won’t stop screaming.”

“I’m usually better with kids than I am with adults,” Chris said with a chuckle.  They were quiet for a few moments as Chris slowly worked the tension out of Zach’s shoulders.  When Zach’s muscles finally started to loosen under Chris’ hands, he asked, “Is there anybody for Nina to live with?  I mean long-term, if her mom doesn’t come back?”

“I don’t know,” Zach sighed.  “My other aunt and uncle in Pittsburgh already have a ton of kids.  I think my mom is willing to look after her, at least for a little while, but it would probably be really hard for her to actually take on the full responsibility of raising her.”

“This, uh…” Chris started carefully.  “This might be a little premature, but once I’m done with the publicity for my last movie, my schedule’s free for… quite a while, actually.  I wanted to take a little break anyway, so I don’t have anything big lined up.”

Zach abruptly turned to look at him.  “What are you saying?”

Chris took a deep breath.  “I’m saying… you and me, we’re doing really well, and we finally have a house together.  I know we haven’t seriously talked about kids, but if your cousin really isn’t coming back, if Nina needs a family… I think we could be it.”

Zach just looked at him silently for a long time.  “You mean that?”

“Yeah, of course I do.  I mean, I know this has all happened suddenly and there would be a lot of stuff to work out first, but I think you’d be a really great dad.  I think we both would.”

Zach nodded slowly.  “Okay, we’ll go to Pittsburgh this weekend.   And then…”

“We’ll see what happens,” Chris finished for him.

&&&

Mrs. Quinto answered the door in a robe with her hair up in rollers – honest-to-god rollers.  Chris didn’t know anyone still used those.

“Thank god you’re here!” she exclaimed, planting a kiss on Zach’s cheek and yanking Chris in for a hug.  “The party starts in two hours, and I need to get over there as soon as I can.”  She turned to Chris.  “Christopher, I’m sorry, I’ll ask all about you later.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me, Mrs. Q.  We’re just here to help.”

She smiled wanly and let them both into the living room.  “Please call me Margot.  Nina’s in her crib upstairs.  I’ve been feeding her around 6 every night.  Her food is in the grocery bags on the kitchen counter – I haven’t had time to put things away.”

“We’ll take care of that,” Zach said comfortingly.  “How’s Aunt Ruth?”

Margot rolled her eyes.  “About the same as the last time we talked.  Sweet woman, but less than reliable in a crisis,” she explained to Chris.  “I picked up her medication for her earlier, but if you could just run it over there, check on her— oh, but I’ll have the car all night!”

“Relax, Ma, we’ve got a rental.”

She clapped her hand to her forehead.  “Of course you do – that’s how you got here from the airport.  I’m sorry I couldn’t come pick you up.”

Zach pulled her into another hug.  “You just worry about your thing tonight and we’ll take care of everything else.”

Margot eyed Zach warily and Chris tried hard not to laugh.  “You were never the most dependable babysitter, Zachary.”

“That was _one_ time, and I put the fire out before the smoke alarm even went off!” Zach sputtered indignantly.

Chris figured he ought to step in about now.  “I think between the two of us, we’ll manage.”

“See, Ma?  We’ve got it covered.  You go finish getting ready.”

Margot looked as though she wanted to say something else, but just shook her head and retreated back up the stairs to her room.  Chris turned to Zach.  “Where should I put my stuff?”

Zach gave him an odd look.  “Uh, my room.”

“Is… is that okay?” Chris asked cautiously.  He’d visited the Quinto homestead before, but he’d never stayed the night.

“We’re adults, Chris.”

“Yeah, but your mom—”

“Knows we sleep together.”

“Maybe I should ask first.”

“Do not ask my mother,” Zach said, rolling his eyes.  Chris hesitated, and Zach sighed, “ _Oh_ my god.  Seriously?”

“No, I guess it’s alright.  I just… I want her to like me, y’know?”

“Did you not hear her?  She already likes you more than she likes me.”  Zach held out his bag.  “Just for that, you have to carry my stuff up while I put the groceries away.”

Chris stood up straighter and took the bag.  “Trying to intimidate me with your indiscriminate packing style?  Weak, Quinto.”  Before Zach could snark back, Chris turned and went up the stairs as haughtily as possible with a rolling suitcase full of Chuck Taylors.

Zach’s bedroom was the first on the right, and though Chris had seen it before, he took a moment to look around.  There were framed posters and playbills from Zach’s high school and college shows interspersed with concert posters and photos of friends taped to the walls.  Most of Zach’s books were in his LA apartment, of course, but there were broken-spined copies of classic books – the kind that were required high school reading – stacked on the shelves.  Chris was about to go over to them, see if teenage Zach had left any revealing notes in the margins, when he heard a sound from down the hall.

Chris followed the noise to the guest room, where a crib had been set up by the bed.  Lying in it, surrounded by a wealth of stuffed animals, was a little girl just waking up from her nap.  “You must be Nina,” Chris said softly, reaching into the crib – which even Chris could tell was getting too small for her – and picking her up.  She squirmed a little at first, but relaxed when Chris sat back on the bed.

Her hair was a mass of dark brown curls and her large eyes were a speckled hazel.  Chris had never met Tory, had only seen a picture or two of her, so he couldn’t tell how much Nina looked like her mother, but he thought there was something decidedly… Quintonian about her.  Maybe it was the way her forehead wrinkled just a little as she looked at Chris for the first time.  Maybe it was the obvious intelligence in her eyes.  Maybe it was the way she grabbed Chris’ nose and refused to let go.

“Hi, Nina,” Chris said as best he could with his nostrils clamped shut.  “I’m Chris.”

She regarded him with all the seriousness a two-year-old could possibly muster, but she didn’t cry or haul back and smack him in the face, so Chris counted it as a win.  Then, obviously finding him unworthy of her continued attention, she wriggled out of Chris’ arms and onto the bed, looking around for something.  “Effant?” she asked.

“Pardon me?” Chris replied, only belatedly realizing the futility of politeness in this particular situation.

“Wan my effant!” Nina cried, her voice taking on a tinge of desperation.

It had to be one of her stuffed animals.  Chris quickly dropped down to the crib and started pulling out toy after toy and setting them on the bed.  “Can you give me another clue?” he asked, feeling only mildly ridiculous.  There were cats and dogs and bees and kangaroos and an unidentifiable pinkish blob of some kind, but none of these seemed to appease Nina.

Chris was running out of stuffed animals when Nina finally squealed and grabbed a toy from Chris’ hand – a small purple elephant.  Of course.  Nina sighed happily, gripped the long-suffering creature by the trunk, and proceeded to whack all the other stuffed animals off the bed.  Chris laughed at the sight and slumped back against the bed.  He felt like he’d passed the first test.

&&&

By the time Zach had returned from taking supplies over to Aunt Ruth, he was exhausted.  He had no idea how just talking to a woman could be so draining, but there it was.  His aunt hadn’t been rude, exactly, but she’d asked about everything, like she’d had a list of questions she’d just been waiting to spring on him, everything from his career to his relationship with Chris to his dental hygiene habits.  Zach tried to remind himself that she was going through a rough time with her daughter and granddaughter, and that she was probably lonely.

The first thing he heard as he came through the door and back into the warm house was an excited screech that was absolutely unmistakable – Spongebob Squarepants.  Sure enough, when he got to the living room, Chris was parked on the floor in front of the couch with Nina, saying, “Ooh, I’ve seen this one before.  It’s the one where Spongebob breaks his spatula and gets a fancy new one.”  In fact, Chris was the only one paying attention to the TV – Nina seemed more interested in carefully stacking her brightly colored blocks before sending out a sharp kick to knock them all down again.

“Hey, Zach’s home!” Chris said.  “Say hi to Zach!”  Nina looked up at him briefly, then went back to her blocks.  “Oh, well, I tried.  Hey Nina, did you know that Zach’s a huge Spongebob fan?  Who’s your favorite character, Zach?”

Zach chuckled.  He wasn’t exactly a fan, per se, but he no longer complained when Chris watched it to zonk out after a long day on set, so that was something.  “I like Gary the Snail.  He’s the smartest one on the show.”

Chris grinned.  “Nina, what sound does Gary make?”

“ _Meow_!” Nina shrieked excitedly, tossing a block in the air.

“Yeah, maybe this show isn’t the best for little kids,” Zach said with a laugh, dropping to the floor to sit with them.  “She’s going to grow up thinking that snails meow and worms bark.  And that all squids are oddly flamboyant musicians who live in Easter Island heads.”

“Nah, she’s smart enough to know it’s just TV,” Chris said.  “Right, Nina?”

But Nina was already building the next ill-fated block tower.  Zach slipped his hand in Chris’ and together they watched her work.

&&&

Chris was already in bed when Zach got there, curled on his side and reading in the lamplight.  He looked up at Zach, then stuck a bookmark between the pages.  “It’s okay,” Zach said, “you can keep the light on for a while if you want.”

“Nah, I was at a good stopping place anyway.”

“Then scoot over.  That’s my side of the bed.”

Chris rolled his eyes but dutifully shifted to the other side.  The sheets were warm from Chris’ body when Zach climbed under them.  He switched off the light, but when he turned towards Chris, the other man was lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling with his hands folded beneath his head.  Zach settled in and waited for the inevitable.

It only took a few more seconds.  “How does somebody do that, Zach?” Chris asked quietly.  “How does somebody abandon that beautiful girl?”

“I don’t know,” Zach replied, reaching over to lay a hand on Chris’ chest.  “Tory was born when I was fourteen and she was only eight when I moved out to LA, so I never really got to know her.  From what I hear, she was never the most responsible person.  I don’t guess she was ready to deal with raising a kid.  And as far as I know, the father was never in the picture.”

Chris shook his head.  “Giving up an infant is one thing, but Nina’s got definite character traits.  She likes elephants and jigsaw puzzles and… well, she tolerates Spongebob.  She’s a little _person_.”

“That would be the definition of a child, yes.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah,” Zach sighed, fingers idly tracing Chris’ collarbone.  “I know.  But I have the feeling Tory, in her own selfish way, is trying to do right by Nina.  She knows she can’t take care of her.”

“So she left her with a crazy old lady?  No offense to Aunt Ruth.”

 Zach chuckled.  “Better with Aunt Ruth than with the meth dealer boyfriend.  And I’m not trying to defend Tory – what she’s doing is fantastically shitty – but I think she has her reasons.”

“I guess,” Chris mumbled. 

Zach was a little surprised at how upset Chris seemed.  “You were really good with Nina.  I guess I didn’t know how much you liked kids.”

“I don’t get to be around them that often.  But, yeah, I like kids.”

“I’m sorry.”  Even as Zach said it, he didn’t know quite what he was apologizing for.

Chris rolled to face him.  “No, Zach, don’t do that.  Shit.  That wasn’t some kind of veiled complaint about you, or us.  I like kids, yeah.  But if I ever raise a kid, it’s going to be with you.”

Zach let out a breath he didn’t even know he’d been holding.  “I guess we should have talked about this earlier.”

“Yeah,” Chris said, cupping Zach’s chin in his hand.  Zach’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he could see Chris’ face painted with hesitant tenderness.  “I’ve thought about bringing it up before, but I kept putting it off.  I didn’t want you to think… well, that I might leave you just because you couldn’t have babies.”

Zach couldn’t quite think of how to respond to that, and after a moment, Chris quickly said, “I’m _not_ going to leave you because you can’t have my babies, Zach.”

Zach laughed and nuzzled into Chris’ hand.  “God.  I know it sounds stupid, but I think a part of me was actually waiting to hear you say that.”

“I’m not going to leave you because you can’t cook, either.  Or because you’re afraid of mice.  Or because you are never, ever going to be able to replace an air filter without some type of assistance, even though it’s like the least complicated thing ever.  Or because—”

“Got it, thank you,” Zach growled, lightly nipping at Chris’ wrist.  Chris laughed and pulled Zach close, wrapping a leg behind his knees and kissing sloppily at his neck.  Zach tried to roll away but came dangerously close to the edge of the bed – neither of them had been used to sleeping in a double bed for a long time.  By silent agreement, they pushed back toward the middle of the bed and lay tangled together, enjoying the closeness but not pressing for anything more.

After a few long minutes of listening to Chris’ breath in the dark, Zach said, “I’m not the best with kids.  But I think… I _know_ I’d like to raise a kid with you.”

Chris didn’t say a word, just kissed Zach’s temple and held him a little tighter.

&&&

The plane ride back to LA was one of the most painful trips Zach could remember taking.  He’d spent the weekend watching Chris fall hopelessly in love.  He’d connected immediately and deeply with Nina, and Zach could tell how much it hurt Chris to leave.  They’d brought up the idea to Margot on the last night of their stay, and much to their disappointment, she hadn’t seemed enthusiastic about it.

“You’re both so busy,” she said, shaking her head.  “How are you going to look after her?”

“Chris is taking some time off after he finishes the press tour for the latest Jack Ryan movie, and neither of us have obligations with Trek for at least another two years,” Zach said.

She narrowed her eyes at him.  “And you’re going to, what, just sit around the house all day?  Zachary, you haven’t been able to take more than a few weeks away from acting since you finished college.”

Chris jumped in.  “He can do Before the Door stuff – short films, things with smaller time commitments.  And he’s been wanting to write for a while.”

She turned her penetrating stare to Chris.  “You’re on board with this, Christopher?”

He nodded, his eyes full of fragile hope.  “It was kind of my idea, actually.”

“You’ve seen how she’s taken to him, Ma,” Zach said quietly.  He knew Chris wouldn’t want to hear what he said next, but it needed to be put out there.  “And it might not even be on a permanent basis.  In a few weeks, a few months, Tory might change her mind and come back.  In the meantime, we can take care of Nina.  Realistically, what are her other options?”

Zach watched his mother’s face carefully as she processed what he’d said.  Even as active as she still was, there was no way his mom was going to be able to keep up with a child so young.  Aunt Ruth wasn’t an option, and from what his mother had told him, it sounded like Uncle Will and Aunt Bethany, with 6 children of their own, had essentially said _thanks, but no thanks_.

“We could give her a home,” Chris said, so earnestly that Zach’s heart broke a little.

Margot was silent for a few tense moments before finally saying, “Okay.  We’ll talk about it.  But let me be the one to bring it up to Ruth.  She’s not going to like the idea of Nina being so far away.”

Chris had spent the rest of that night and all the next day until they had to leave for the airport playing with Nina, running around with her and letting her climb all over him like a human jungle gym.  He must have known that they couldn’t pack her up right then and take her back to California with them, but Zach could still see the pain in his eyes as they said goodbye.  They hardly talked on the way home – Zach did some crossword puzzles and Chris tried to read his book, but Zach could see he’d hardly gotten through twenty pages on the four hour flight.

Once they were in the car, Zach finally risked putting his hand over Chris’ on the center console.  He felt like he should say something inspirational or uplifting, but nothing came to him, so he just squeezed Chris’ hand and hoped it was enough.  It wasn’t until dinner that night – Chinese take-out – that Chris spoke more than two words to Zach.  “Is this what you want?” he asked.

At first, Zach thought he was talking about the lo mein.  “I don’t know.  Does it have pork in it?”

“Not the food, you idiot,” Chris said, but his mouth twitched up into a smile.  “I mean, you know… Nina.”

“Do you even have to ask?”

Chris shifted nervously in his seat.  “This has all happened so suddenly, and I don’t want to feel like I’m forcing you into anything.”

“What makes you think you’re forcing me?”

“I mean, taking her in was my idea in the first place, and…”  Chris was practically squirming now.  “You’re good with her, you are, but I didn’t know if you, like…”

“I didn’t really bond with her the way you did,” Zach admitted, “but believe it or not, I’ve thought about having kids, too.”

“What about _this_ kid?”

“She’s family, Chris.  I love her already.  I’m a little worried about either of us getting too attached to her before we know what’s going to happen, but if she needs a home, I want it to be with us.”

Then Chris was digging around in his fried rice with his chopsticks, mumbling something about “they shorted us on the shrimp again, dammit,” but Zach could see he was trying very hard not to sniffle.

After that, Chris could barely keep the smile off his face, even as they kept getting in each other’s way while unpacking their bags.  When the lights had been turned out and they were both finally back in their own bed, Chris, clad in only his briefs, rolled atop Zach and began attacking his neck with wet, sucking kisses.

“Zaaa-aaach,” he purred, “you’re gonna be a daddy.”

Zach laughed in between gasps.  “Is that supposed to turn me on?”

“Maaaaybe.  You wanna be _my_ daddy?”

“Okay, no.  Too weird,” Zach growled, flipping them over and grinding his hips down into Chris’. 

“Really?  ‘Cause it _feels_ like you wanna be my— ooh, yeah, right there.”

&&&

Chris couldn’t remember ever being so nervous – not on his first date, not when he auditioned for Trek, not even when he first realized he was in love with Zach.  Three weeks and many, many phone calls after first meeting Nina, he was back in Margot’s living room, this time trying to hold up under the scrutiny of Aunt Ruth.  The woman was straight out of a Harry Potter book, lacking only the British accent.  She was wearing a wide-brimmed hat with fake birds and fruit on it, and the combination of colors represented in her outfit had to be driving Zach slowly insane.

And she was the one who would decide Nina’s fate.  Luckily, at some point during the past three weeks, Margot, possibly convinced by Nina’s penchant for elephant-related violence, had become a solid member of Team Pine-Quinto and was doing her best to tip the balance in their favor.  Which apparently entailed talking about Zach and Chris as though they weren’t in the room.

“She’ll be well cared for,” Margot was saying.  “Lord knows they’ve got enough money to keep her in solid gold pull-ups ‘til the end of time.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Chris saw Zach open his mouth to protest, so he quickly shook his head until Zach shut it again.  They were _not_ playing the bohemian hipster I’m-not- _that_ -rich game when it came to Nina.

“But are they going to be positive role models?” Ruth asked.  “I know Zachary is a good boy, but what about this one?”  She pointed at Chris.

 _‘Sweet,' my ass_ , Chris thought, trying to keep from actually growling.  “You don’t have anything to worry about with me, ma’am.”

Ruth gave him a patronizing look that screamed _that’s nice, dear_ before glancing back at Margot, who said, “He comes from a good family and he’s smart enough to keep my boy in line.  You ought to see him with Nina – he speaks her language.”

Ruth still didn’t look convinced.  She finally addressed Zach directly.  “Will you take her to church?”

Zach balked, so Chris jumped in.  “On major holidays, of course.”

“Only on holidays?”

Chris was trying to think of a nice way to ask what, exactly, a two year old was going to get out of Mass when Zach spoke up.  “There’s a Catholic day care near our house.  Would that be acceptable?”

“Day care?”

“Just for a few hours a day, maybe two or three days a week,” Chris said quickly.  “She needs to socialize with other kids her age, you know?”  Ruth didn’t look any closer to agreeing, so Chris started improvising.  “We know you’re worried about Nina being so far away, but we’re both well-established in LA.  My family’s there, and my mom’s already really excited to meet her.  We have the means to get to or from Pittsburgh whenever we need to.  We can even fly you out to visit whenever you want.”

That last statement had the effect of making both Margot’s and Zach’s eyes go instantly wide, but it made Ruth’s face soften, so Chris had no intention of backpedaling.  “Very well,” Ruth said after a moment.  “Until permanent arrangements are made, you and Zachary may look after Nina.”

Chris managed to hold back the _whoop!_ he wanted to let out, but he settled for beaming at Zach, who scooted down the couch to throw his arms around Chris.

&&&

They stayed another night in Pittsburgh, packing Nina’s belongings while Margot made list after list of Things to Remember that they were supposed to take with them and post immediately on the refrigerator.  Though Zach had stopped him from actually going out and buying carloads of toys and furniture, Chris had thoroughly childproofed the house before they’d left for Pittsburgh, and he took every opportunity to remind Zach of his shrewd foresight.  It wasn’t entirely fair to Zach, who had really just wanted to keep Chris from getting his hopes up in case it didn’t work out, but Zach bore it graciously, and Chris rewarded him with a good, thorough blowjob after everyone else had gone to sleep.

Afterwards, they lay entwined together on Zach’s old bed exchanging lazy kisses, neither of them able to sleep.

“You ready to be a dad?” Zach asked, stroking Chris’ hair.

“As much as anybody’s ever ready, I guess,” Chris said.  “And before you remind me, I know, this might not be permanent.”

“Doesn’t mean we’re going to love her any less,” Zach whispered, and Chris would’ve rolled him over and blown him again if they didn’t have to be up so early.

The plane ride turned out to be a trial by fire – Nina had never been on a plane before and decided, early and loudly, that she despised it.  Zach and Chris took turns trying everything they could think of, but it wasn’t until she’d thoroughly tired herself out that they stopped getting glares of doom from their fellow passengers. 

When she finally fell asleep against Zach’s chest, Zach managed to doze for a while too, and Chris had the singular pleasure of watching them as they slept.  He wasn’t sure he should start thinking of her as his daughter yet, but he knew that the longer they spent with her, the harder it would be to hold back.  He risked reaching over and twisting one of her curls around his finger, then letting it spring back into place.  Still asleep, she nuzzled deeper into Zach’s sweater, and Chris thought his heart would burst with happiness.

It only lasted until the descent into LAX, however, as the turbulence on the way down woke her up and she immediately remembered to let everyone around them know just how unhappy she was with the situation.  Getting their luggage from baggage claim turned out to be an eye-opening experience, what with the multiple, heavy bags full of Nina’s things and the girl herself constantly trying to make a break for freedom through the automatic doors.  The process of strapping the car seat into Zach’s Prius nearly brought on a screaming fight, and Chris sat in the back with Nina on the ride home primarily so he wouldn’t have to look at Zach.

By the time they were within sight of their house, though, all had been forgiven.  Even Nina was exhausted, and Zach gave Chris a grateful, conciliatory kiss on the cheek as Chris gently pulled her from her car seat and carried her inside.

Walking into the house with Nina in his arms made the intensely familiar environment look suddenly foreign.  How long would the baseboards stay white once Nina unpacked her crayons?  Was the sofa really as stain-resistant as it claimed to be?  And, most importantly, how would he and Zach find time for each other with Nina always around?  It was terrifying, being hit with all these thoughts at once, but when Nina grabbed a fistful of his shirt and buried her head against his chest, Chris took a moment to remember why it would all be worth it.

“Welcome home, baby,” he whispered.


End file.
